The country’s territorial waters cover an area of around 15,000 sq km. (Image source: Chad Teer/ Wikimedia Commons)Lebanon's energy minister has announced that preliminary surveys of country’s offshore fields show reserves of 850bn cubic metres of natural gas and 660mn barrels of oil

Speaking at the Arab Economic Forum recently, Lebanese energy minister Gebrane Bassil said that scanning was now complete on 70 per cent of the country’s territorial waters covering an area of around 15,000 sq km.

Bassil said, “In just 10 per cent of that area, we have 850mn cubic meters of gas and 660 million barrels of oil.

“If we meet all the deadlines, we hope to complete the first exploration phase between 2016 and 2017, and thereafter begin development and production.”

A total of 46 international energy firms pre-qualified last month to bid for offshore hydrocarbon exploration contracts in Lebanon.